“I feel great. The recovery process is going well.”
That is all Darius Garland would say to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com about surgery on his big toe back in June after that injury severely limited him in the playoffs, a key reason for the Cavaliers’ early second-round exit. Fedor next asked Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson about Garland’s recovery and learned the All-Star point guard may not be ready for the start of training camp. Here is what Fedor said on the Wine and Gold podcast about talking to Atkinson.
And I asked him, I said, “You know, as a coach, you lost Ty Jerome and Darius Garland is obviously recovering from toe surgery. Are you anticipating Darius being ready for training?” And he said, “No, I don’t decide these things. It’s going to be up to Darius and the training staff led by Steve Spiro.” But he said, “I don’t expect him to, and I want him to take his time with this, and we’re not going to push it. We’re not going to rush it…
“We have Don (Donovan Mitchell). We have Lonzo (Ball). We have CP (Craig Porter Jr.). We are kind of covered. We also have Evan (Mobley), where we can throw it to him in a trail position and have him be a play-maker.”
The Cavaliers should not rush it. How important Garland is to the Cavaliers’ success was clearly evident in the playoffs — they need him fully healthy. Last season, Garland averaged 20.6 points and 6.7 assists per game, shooting 40.1% from 3. In the playoffs that fell off to 18 points and 5.2 assists a game, but he played in just five postseason games because of the turf toe injury and was far less efficient, shooting just 28.6% from 3.
Cleveland enters the season as the clear favorite to grab the No. 1 seed in the East this coming season, but they need to prove they can carry that over to the playoffs this time. Coming off a 64-win season and with a very deep team, Atkinson can afford to monitor and rest players more while still racking up plenty of wins to get the top seed. What matters more is a rested and healthy Cavaliers team heading into the playoffs, because that team has a legitimate chance to make the Finals. What matters is the big picture.
And if that means Garland misses some of training camp, that’s just fine.
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